Faulty hand tool consumer rights UK: 30-day reject

The blade is chipped, the spare packet is empty, or the screws will not hold a setting and the tool will not cut. You bought it from a trader, often on amazon.co.uk. Faulty hand tool consumer rights UK shoppers still start from the Consumer Rights Act 2015: the goods must be of satisfactory quality, and they must match the description. A price of £4.44 changes how fussy a reasonable person may be. It does not delete the question.

A blunt but intact iron is a different complaint. UK reviews on the listings in our spokeshave comparison say both that a tool arrived sharp and that it needed a hone first. “You should have sharpened it” is sometimes the right next step. It is not an answer to a chip, a spare the page promised and did not include, or screws that will not clamp the blade.

Peter F. wrote this page as editor for DIY & tools. It is not legal advice, and it does not find that any named listing is in breach. Prices, stars, and review counts are amazon.co.uk figures captured around 15 October 2026. The frame is the Act on legislation.gov.uk. We did not test these tools in a lab or open your parcel. A qualifying purchase through our links can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

In short

If a trader sold you the spokeshave, satisfactory quality still applies at a low price, and the goods must match the description you were given. You have a short-term right to reject for 30 days starting the day after delivery and transfer of ownership. After that, the route is repair or replacement, with a six-month presumption that has two limits. A blunt, complete iron is a hone. A chip or a promised spare that is not in the box is the rights question.

Satisfactory quality takes the price into account

Satisfactory quality is the test in section 9. The goods must meet the standard a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory, taking account of the description, the price, and the other circumstances. It can still fail if the blade arrives chipped, or if the screws will not hold a setting.

The cheapest pair in the stored comparison is £4.44. A surface you can file may be what that price buys. The guide to using a spokeshave treats a light first cut and a hone as ordinary work, not as a refund. The painted-sole guide does not turn a chip into setup. Photograph the chip, or a screw that turns without moving the blade. The £8.99 Swpeet, at 3.9 from 1,928 ratings, is our top pick for a named flat sole and a large sample.

As described means the spare count and the sole

Section 11 says the goods must match the description. When two lines clash, you get the line you relied on. Voskilon puts four blades in the title while the included-components line says “Blade Gauge Assembly”. Lumanious says four metal blades in the title while the included line says the spokeshave only. GIONAR says four in the title while the included line says no. Wjelet pages claim four extra blades, and on Wjelet B0DK2VMLRW the stored UK reviews disagree: one buyer said the spares arrived, another said only the fitted blade did.

Quote both lines and say which you relied on. A spare the page never promised is not a section 11 failure. The £4.44 pair states no spare blades. The Glarks pair at £12.99 states two extra blades, and a later bullet calls that four in total, two of them replacements, so count that once. Compare the lines in the buying guide before you order. A flat base is not a round sole, and silence is not a flat sole you can reject. Voskilon, one Wjelet, GIONAR, and MHYMX do not state a sole. Read it in the best spokeshave notes before you order. Nobody here measured 58–60 HRC. The spare-blade article treats four blades as a sharpening myth. Here they count only if your page promised them.

Thirty days to reject, then repair or replacement

The short-term right to reject is the 30-day refund. Section 22 times it from the first day after ownership has transferred, the goods have been delivered, and any installation the contract required is finished. A spokeshave has no installation step. The clock does not start when you click buy, unless delivery and transfer of ownership happened that same day.

If the parcel arrives on Monday 5 October 2026, the first of the 30 days is Tuesday 6 October. Open the box that day and photograph the edge, the screws, the sole, and every blade next to the title and the included-components line, with the tracking date. A repair request during those 30 days pauses the clock. A spokeshave is not perishable, so the shorter limit for goods that will not keep does not apply.

After 30 days the short-term right is gone. Section 19 still gives repair or replacement, then a price reduction or the final right to reject. The duty sits with the trader, who may be Amazon or another seller. Grinding the chip out and then cutting a door makes it harder to say you rejected the tool.

The six-month presumption, and its limits

If the goods do not conform within six months beginning with the day of delivery, section 19 says they must be taken not to have conformed on that day. Delivery on 5 October starts that period on 5 October, a day earlier than the 30-day clock, which starts on 6 October. The presumption does not apply if it is established that the goods did conform on the delivery day, or if it does not fit the goods or the way they fail. A sound edge in your first-day photographs is the first limit. Ordinary wear is the second.

Five months of planing will dull an iron. That dullness belongs in the sharpening article. A chip photographed when you opened the box is not wear. A £4.44 casting is not sold as a tool that will hold an edge like a dearer specialist. The price guide keeps those stickers apart, and the presumption does not upgrade the cheaper tool. A sole you have worn hollow is a poor candidate. A mouth so far out of line that the blade never projected evenly, shown on day one, is a better one.

What this article will not decide

It will not decide a particular order or a parcel we have not opened. The clashes above are stored listing text, not what was delivered to you. It will not apply these terms to a private sale. Who sold the tool comes before the time limits.

It will not apply PUWER to a household buy. The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 cover equipment used at work. They do not attach because you eased a door on a Saturday, and they do not name a spokeshave model. If you buy tools for staff, that duty is PUWER and a spokeshave at work. A refund right is not a risk assessment.

It will not use a product-safety page as the refund rule. GOV.UK guidance on the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 is a Great Britain note, and that page records that those Regulations were superseded in Northern Ireland on 13 December 2024. The route here is the Consumer Rights Act. The £8.99 Swpeet is the comparison’s top pick for a named flat base, a claimed 46 mm blade, and 1,928 ratings. The £4.44 pair states no spare blades. If the iron is only blunt, hone it. If it is chipped, short of a promised spare, or impossible to set, write to the trader while the dates still help.

Common questions

If the edge is chipped or the promised spares are missing, write to the trader with the delivery date and the description you bought from. If the iron is complete and only blunt, the next step is the stone. These questions are not advice on your contract.